www.eatlocalchallenge.com

The Great Sunflower Project

By Joanne White, Fork & Bottle

Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at San Francisco State, has launched The Great Sunflower Project. It's a community science project which has a goal to look at the health of local bees and how pollination both wild and garden are being affected. As you may know, there is great concern about the bee population in the US, and this project is targeting bees to see how they are doing nationwide.

To join the project, they ask you to plant a native sunflower (and they will send you seeds) and then twice a month watch a sunflower to see how long it takes for 5 bees to visit that one flower. The information should help them get a picture of how bees are being affected (and what state they are in) in the hopes of setting a plan to help them. If you don't have a garden, the website also lists public gardens where you can observe bees.

Local Table Grapes: Don't Fear Grape Seeds

by Jack & Joanne

It's September and in wine country California that means it's harvest time for grapes. While our first thought is wine, eating table grapes are also lush, ripe and ready to devour. But here is our plea: Instead of eating bland Thompson Seedless grapes from who knows where, eat organic heirloom seeded grapes and support diversity.

We are so lucky to have Ana Stayton at Golden Nectar Farm, located in Healdsburg, CA. Each year at the Sebastopol Farmers' Market, she has a small but outrageously wonderful selection of table grapes. Some of the most delicious heirloom grapes you'll ever taste, like Bronx (the best!), Himrod, Interlaken (one of our favorites), Golden Muscat and Early Muscat.

Sunday at the Marin Farmers' Market

by Jack & Joanne

Joanne, Trent and I got on the road at 9am (an amazing early start for us!) to drive the 40 minutes to the Marin Sunday Farmers' Market in San Rafael. We scored a parking spot easily - we usually get there too late for this to happen.

Wow, this Farmers' Market is really rocking in late May! Except for chicken, milk/cream, dried beans, rice and flour, you can get probably buy everything you want to eat for the next week. Really! This is in sharp contrast to locales where the Farmers' Market doesn't even open until June or July. The people in Marin have no idea how good they have it.

Local vs. Organic

by Jack & Joanne

A worthwhile article and commentary appeared the other day of interest to Eat Local Challenge readers: Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog points to Samuel Fromartz’s article on Grist, “Local or organic? It's a false choice”. Jeff’s summation and comments are here.

What do you think? – Jack

Jack & Joanne live in Sonoma County and create/write the website Fork & Bottle.

Local Foods We Love

by Jack & Joanne

One of the results of last August's Eat Local Challenge was the creation of a page on our site devoted to local foods. It has blossomed into one very long page plus five sub-pages. We got this up last Fall and have updated it a few times since, including yesterday.

Fork & Bottle's  Great Local Foods

Since we took the Eat Local Challenge last August, our favorite local products are regulars in our pantry and fridge. After finding the best local choice in a number of categories, we can't go back; the quality and delicious-ness factor has made that local product a part of our lifestyle. Examples would be...

Grow Your Own Food (and do it as Organically as possible)

by Jack & Joanne

Even if it's just a tiny amount. Really! The toughest thing about gardening is remembering to water regularly (which also means not too often in fact the key is to water a lot infrequently). Maybe the next hardest thing is actually taking the plunge. Putting those seeds or plants in dirt. It’s risky. They might not come up, they might die. You might forget to water them. You know what? Just do it and see what happens.

Buy organic seeds/starter plants and organic compost (*not* soil starter, not miracle anything!). Organic compost is the soil and it’s all you need for soil. Really! If you don’t have some already it can be purchased in bags at your nursery or for larger quantities - delivered to your house by the yard (a cubic measurement) from nursery/landscape material providers. (Check under Landscape Materials in the yellow pages).

Bye, Bye, Rosie: The Search for local Free Range Chicken

by Jack & Joanne

Jack and I listened to Michael Pollan speak at a Napa Slow Food event in St. Helena last weekend. He was truly inspiring and is a wonderful speaker. I'm very eager to read his new book, Omnivore's Dilemna, especially the chapters where he follows a Whole Foods meal back to the source, which he talked about that evening.

Already, as a result of his talk, I have to go find a new chicken source. Rosie (which is the organic brand local to us – from Petaluma Poultry) which Whole Foods carry and we've been eating, apparently does not meet my definition of free range.

According to Pollan, chickens are housed in 100ft long barracks with a little roll-up door at the end which leads to a beautiful green lawn. The door is locked until the chickens are 5 weeks old. (Can't go out earlier as they might get sick.) Then chickens get a "holiday" opportunity to go outside for the final 2 weeks of their 7-week-life.

Eat as Local as you can

by Jack & Joanne

If you are at all overwhelmed by the daunting task ahead of eating 100% local in May - then know that you are not alone. Our lives must continue this month of May. We are creatures of 2006 – we have lives, responsibilities, limited time, and limited resources. I for one will drink coffee or tea, eat salted food and eat out – and or eat food I already own (on the shelf or in the freezer or fridge) – but I can choose a local coffee shop, and read menus and labels more carefully and I will. I promise to make a concerted effort to go to the farmers' market every week, buy and eat locally produced and grown food and attempt to make better choices with local as the first choice wherever I go.